92
DECANTER: "Sweet and juicy black fruit notes, smells so aromatic and welcoming with crushed stone, liquorice, milk chocolate, blackcurrant and spearmint aromas. Good dose of concentrated flavour to begin with, deep and rich, not in weight but in nuance with blackcurrant, seductive cherry, strawberry and bramble notes too. It has that soft, bitter stalkiness from the old-vine Merlot, giving edges to the palate and a dash of heat on the tongue. The texture is smooth and velvety, tannins are softly grippy but well integrated and this has sophistication. It really shows its terroir in terms of minerality as well as overall crafting. A slightly more extracted version from the vintage but it does have freshness and limestone markers."
94-96
JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2021 Château Pavie Decesse is another balanced, deep, rich wine in the lineup. Giving up lots of cassis and black raspberry fruits, notes of violets, spring flowers, and chalky minerality, medium to full body, and a great finish, it has good overall freshness, ripe tannins, and a great finish."
92
FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, tiefer Kern, violette Reflexe, breitere Randaufhellung. Frische Pflaumen, ein Hauch von schwarzen Herzkirschen, frische Orangenzesten, einladendes Bukett. Saftig, süße rote Waldbeeren, feine Tannine, frisch und mit gute Mineralik ausgestattet, bereits gut entwickelt, ein lebendiger Speisenbegleiter."
91-94
ANTONIO GALLONI: "The 2021 Pavie-Decesse is clearly still coming together. Powerful and driving on the palate, Pavie-Decesse shows its trademark energy and virile intensity. Red/purplish fruit, gravel, spice, mocha and iron lend an air of distinction. The malos here are on the later side vis-a-vis the other properties in the range, so the wine comes across as a bit raw in this tasting. Even so, there is good mid-palate density and plenty of character. All the 2021 needs is time to come together."
90-92
NEAL MARTIN: "The 2021 Pavie-Decesse, where 1.5 of the 3.0-hectares was replanted in 2019, was picked on a single day - 4 October at 33.60hL/ha. It has an intense, almost flamboyant bouquet with generous black and blue fruit, hints of strawberry and incense developing in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and a little oaky on the entry (80% new wood). Firm structure, just a slight edginess on the mid-palate with a grippy, graphite-tinged finish, here, I might have just dialled down the new oak to find more terroir expression on the finish. This will be interesting to revisit once in bottle. 14.19% alcohol."
92-93
JAMES SUCKLING: "A tight and focused red with blackberry, black-olive and white-pepper character. It’s medium-to full-bodied with a racy structure and fine yet slightly chewy tannins. Energetic."